


How to Fix a Broken Body: and a Shattered Soul

by Justapotatofan



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Hospital, College, Fluff, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Injury Recovery, Kissing, M/M, Major Character Injury, Students
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25483744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justapotatofan/pseuds/Justapotatofan
Summary: Harry Styles is a Freshman student at University Washington majoring in English, but not really knowing what he wants to do in life. After getting injured and ending up in the ER, he meets someone who is injured as well, not on the body, but in the soul. Will they be able to help each other heal?ORThe College AU where Harry is a freshman who gets injured and Louis is a junior working as an EMT and a nurse's assistant in the College Hospital and gets assigned Harry's room.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first work on AO3, so I apologize for how bad it's going to be in advance. I'm gonna attempt to make it be more emotional after the first couple of chapters too, but I don't know how that will work out. 
> 
> I've seen people on this site write like 20,000 words per chapter. That will not be the case for me, more around 1,000 words per chapter.
> 
> Anywho, imma try to make it romantic and emotional, but I don't know how good I am at that, so enjoy!

He doesn't know how it happened. Well he does. It shouldn't have happened. He was just being dumb. A complete dumbass.

He went on a run during sunset. Not quite the dumb part yet.

He has asthma. And he forgot his inhaler. And he was running on a trail in a forest. During winter.

And being dumb had his consequences on him, extreme consequences. 

It was already dark, the sun dipping behind the horizon a while ago. Harry was on his way back to his dorm from his run. Trying to run as fast as he could, using the faded light from the moon and few stars that weren't covered by clouds to his aid. His new running shoes, his only present from his parents for his birthday a week ago, beat a steady rhythm onto the ground. A frigid breeze rustled through the trees, a squirrel dashed across the trail.

He was scared and out of breath, and already regretted going on a run in winter. The ice cold air made it harder to breath and it got dark far too early. As he clutched his jacket pocket where his inhaler seemed to have disappeared, anxiety pelted him in the face, like the small droplets falling from the sky. He stopped abruptly, already heaving, not able to bring oxygen into his lungs. Short and ragged puffs of condensation rose out of his mouth as he tried to level his breathing. He pulled down his beanie, trying to warm his ears and think clearly.

Calm down, calm down. It's fine. Just keep going. You have to get back. Just one foot in front of the other. 

And that is when he promptly passed out, collapsing onto the gravel trail in the cold night.


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Louis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the first chapter was really short, so here's a slightly longer still not that long one. Enjoy!

As a broke college student studying English, he did not have enough money for this. Neither did his family.

Harry woke up in an ambulance, artificial light cutting into his eyes. His body was suddenly jostled around, as if there was an earthquake. He felt a heavy weight pressing into his chest and a pinch in his arm and a stab in his wrist. He was far from comfortable.

He blinked a couple more times, trying to clear his eyes, taking in more information as he looked around. There were four people around him with scrubs on, all staring. There were cabinets around and a bag full of liquid suspended above his head. The strap to something cold on his face dug into his head and still, there was that heavy, uncomfortable weight on his chest. 

Oh. 

He was in an ambulance. His body was jostled around again as the vehicle went over a bump or around a turn, Harry couldn't tell. 

He lifted his arm to take the oxygen mask off his face, wanting to tell the ambulance staff that, he was in fact, ay-okay right now. But he couldn't move his arm because of the weight on top of him and oh-- not exactly what he was expecting.

A boy, around Harry's age, was on top of him. His toned arms wrapped around him along with several other blankets. And oh, while it was not what Harry was expecting, he wasn't complaining. The boy was warm and Harry was quite cold, realizing he couldn't feel his toes. His warmth was comforting and Harry was tired so he began closing his eyes. 

"Patient is conscious," the boy blurted as he stood up before Harry could get comfortable again. "Movement in the left arm," he clarified, covering Harry with the blankets to replace him and oh -- another thing he definitely did not expect, but was definitely not complaining about. The boy was shirtless, and as he tugged his blue scrubs shirt over his head, Harry noticed his eyes, bright blue as well, piercing with concern and professionalism. 

"Hi there," a middle aged woman on the other side of him said sweetly, he shifted his body so he could look at her, feeling the blankets shift across his bare chest. 

Wait.

Bare chest?

Uummmm.

So he was just cuddling, half-naked with a, might he say, quite attractive guy, and because of what? Why was he even in an ambulance in the first place? He couldn't remember.

"My name is Celeste and I'm a paramedic along with Dane here," she said motioning to another middle aged person with gelled back brown hair. Honestly, Harry kind of thought it was an ugly style, but it wasn't really his place to judge the people that saved his life. "And them, on your other side, are our EMTs Claire and Louis," she finished as she motion to a girl, blond hair pulled up into a tight pony tail, and to the boy with bright blue eyes and soft hair that brushed across his forehead. "What's your name sweetheart?" Celeste said gently.

"Harry Styles," he spit out, sounding muffled through the oxygen mask and realizing his mouth tasted like an iron pipe. Well at least he could remember his name.

"And how old are you, dear?"

"18, wait no, 19. I just turned 19 last week," he managed to choke out before coughing on the dry air being pumped into his mouth.

"It's alright. Take it easy," the beautiful boy spoke softly with a slight smile. "As Celeste said, I'm Louis and you're in an ambulance right now," he started and continued to answer the question Harry had been wondering for a while. Why was he here?

"Someone found you past out in the Rocky Trails Loop in the forest at 5:45 this morning. I performed CPR on you at 5:54 a.m. due to faint and irregular heart beats. You are suffering from a fractured wrist on your right side, probably from an attempt to break your fall, hypothermia, minor cuts on the face and inside the mouth from falling on the gravel, and a possible concussion. Can you tell us what you remember until now?" It was a lot to take in for Harry. 

He DEFINITELY could not afford this. But, as Louis was listing off his injuries, Harry's memories came back. But, with the great amount of intelligence flowing through Harry's weakly conscious brain, the first thing that came out of his mouth was "Ugh, I'm such a FUCKING idiot, fucking dumbass."

The ambulance staff stared at him, quietly blinking, surprised by the profanity. Except for the blue eyed boy, he had more of an amused look in his eyes. It almost seemed like there was a smile threatening to pull at his lips. 

Then, it was gone, replaced by concern and professionalism once again. "Um, do you remember anything?"

"Uh yeah. Sorry. I was going for an evening run and umm...I guess I forgot my inhaler...yeah I have asthma. And it was dark and there was this squirrel and I was kinda scared, 'cause, you know, I was by myself and I tried running faster, but then I couldn't breath and I forgot my inhaler and..." his already muffled voice faded out, "oh yeah, 'cause I have asthma and I couldn't breathe 'cause I forgot my inhaler and then I guess I just passed out," he knew it wasn't his best attempt at public speaking, but he thought he got his point across.

"Alright Mr. Styles, do you remember what time it was?" Louis said as he lifted his head up from scribbling something down on a clipboard. 

"Umm, like a little after eight or something?" Harry didn't really know. He just remembered it was dark and cold.

"Well," Celeste started up. "We are at the hospital now," the ambulance lurched to a stop as if to prove her point and make my bank account cry. "So we'll get you into a long-term stay room and the doctors will explain everything to you," she said cheerfully as the large metal doors swung open, revealing the dull, cloudy sky right before sunrise. 

"Why long-term?" Harry managed to form the words in his mouth.

Celeste smiled at him, "Well, with the severity of hypothermia you had, we'll want to keep track of you for at least a couple day. You almost didn't make it!" she said with a chuckle and began maneuvering the gurney with the other staff. 

I'm sorry.

What?

Almost didn't make it?

What the HELL does that mean?

It was all too confusing. It was all too much. He just decided that this was a bad dream and he'll wake up from it later. Harry responded with a small "OK" because thats all he could make out before he closed his eyes once again.


	3. III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to make more sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly longer chapter. Yyaaayy! If you have any questions about whats going on in the story, just ask! Because I know not everyone has general knowledge of how hospitals work.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and enjoy!

How did his life come to this? It’s one of the worst things that possibly could have happened in his first year of university.

He opened his eyes with bright, artificial light blinding him once again and stabbing him through the skull. His head was killing him, convincing him that the possible concussion he had was definitely real. Eyes fluttering open, he realized that, in fact, his memories of an ambulance were not scenes from a dreadful dream, but the actual events of cold hard reality.

He wearily regarded the four hot water bottles laying on top of his torso and the IV in his arm and the heart monitor attached to his finger and the cast on his right wrist and the weird tabs stuck to his chest and torso and the lonely layer of cloth from the hospital gown dividing him from the multiple blankets laying on top of everything else.

Just then, a nurse walked in and noticed his dazed stage, “Oh, hello Mr. Styles!” she said with a chipper voice. “I’m glad you have finally woken up! How are you feeling?”

“Completely and utterly confused,” Harry huffed. “Can you please tell me what the hell is going on? And how much this will cost and how long I’ll be here and where my parents are and… and… where the bathroom is?” Harry said in a rush, slowing at the end.

For fuck’s sake, he better be able to go to the bathroom by himself. Even with the amount of injuries he’s been through and pain he may be in, there is no way somebody else is going to wipe his ass for him. There’s no way he’ll stoop that low.

“Ah, yes of course. I‘ll explain everything to you, then we can get you up and go to the restroom, alright?” the nurse explained in the most enthusiastic way. Is everyone in this field this optimistic? Jeez.

“Ok.”

“Alrighty. Well you see--”

“Misty, we need you in room 7, heart failure occurring now,” a tall, wide eyed man blurted urgently as he ran up to the nurse.

“On it,” she said immediately on high alert. She glanced at Harry and uttered “Sorry Mr. Styles,” then paused, looking around frantically. “Hey you!” she shouted at someone out of Harry’s vision, somewhere further down the main corridor. “Are you the CNA for room 12?” Pause. “Okay, he woke up, you can take it from here!” she shouted and left in a hurry.

Why are there so many different people doing the same thing? This is a hospital isn’t it? Shouldn’t there be other people that can take care of heart failure. Not to sound selfish, but Harry had a lot to worry about, and not seeing a single familiar face around made it even harder to gather his bearings. He just wished there was someone he knew around here to give him that extra sense of comfortability; like his parents or his sister, or, hell, he’d even go for that cute blue-eyed EMT that he already forgot the name of. Just someone he had seen before.

And as if the universe actually took notice of his hopes, the nurse’s assistant rounded the corner of the door and entered room 12. “Alright Mr. Styles. How are we doing today?” said the blue eyed boy from the ambulance.

Harry paused in shock for a moment. Even though he was an English major, he knew that being an EMT and a nurse’s assistant were two different jobs, which is very uncommon for a full time student to pursue.

So once again, gathering all his intelligence, the first thing to fall out his mouth was, “But you’re an EMT?”

The boy gave a confused chuckle, “Um, I am. Yes. But I am currently completing my Bachelors of Science in Nursing, so I also work here as part of my class requirements.”

Oh. That makes sense.

“Well, enough about me. What did you need Mr. Styles?”

“First, it’s Harry. You’re literally, like my age. It sounds weird when you say that. Second of all, can you please explain to me what is going on and what happened? And turn off the room lights, it’s hurting my head.” Harry felt like a broken record. He felt like he had asked these questions a million times, yet still no answers.

“Of course. First of all, my name is Louis in case you didn’t remember,” he started as he walked over to turn off the lightswitch. “You just woke up after six hours and you are in the long-term care unit at the University of Washington Hospital. After you were momentarily awake in the ambulance, we got enough information to contact your parents who already came by a couple of hours ago. You are still in a recovery state from pretty bad hypothermia, hence the hot water bottles and blankets on you. We performed an EKG on you, which is what all the tabs attached to your chest are from, because of irregular heartbeat and breathing patterns. Your right wrist is broken and now it’s in a cast, and the IV was adding warm fluids to your bloodstream to reduce the hypothermia even more.” Louis seemed to say it all in one breath, very quickly, looking intently at Harry with his eyes, still bright blue in the dark. “It’s not anymore because your temperature is back to normal again,” he added quickly at the end.

It was a lot. Part of what Louis said didn’t even register in Harry’s brain.

“Woah, woah, woah, there. Slow down. How did I get hypothermia? I don’t really remember.” Once again, Harry felt so repetitive, but this time to himself. He literally just doesn’t know what is happening.

“Um, lets see,” he took a couple steps back to the room door, snatching the clipboard that was resting on the patient information rack. He began walking back into the room, “It says you were on an evening run and it was dark...and there was a squirrel?” Louis hummed to himself, almost the sound of laughter, but not quite. Composure and seriousness returned to his voice as he continued reading. “You were running really fast before you realized you forgot your inhaler and you passed out on the gravel trail. It started raining shortly after you passed out.” Louis gave a short sigh. “So, it was 35 degrees fahrenheit outside and you were soaked with low oxygen flow due to your asthma. That’s how you got hypothermia.”

Harry took a second to take that all in. It was all too serious. He hated serious situations. He always tried to make light of them. “Well now you know how athletic and intelligent I am,” he said sarcastically with a forced laugh.

Louis didn’t laugh.

“On the bright side, Mr. Styles, as a UW student, you get a discount at all UW run healthcare establishments,” Louis opted for.

Which, thank god. Harry needed something positive.

But positives always come with negatives. Like the memory of the rest of the information he was told when he was in the ambulance. Like how he almost didn’t make it.

As in heart stopped.

As in not breathing.

As in dead.

Just because he made a dumbass decision to go for a run at night, in the winter, by himself, and forget his inhaler.

“That other lady in the ambulance. She said I almost didn’t make it. What the hell was that about, Louis?”

“Oh yeah. Celeste. She is a bit up front about all that information and such.” Louis said dryly as he sat down on the chair beside Harry’s bed.

Even in the darker setting, Harry could make out so much more of Louis’ features now that he was up close. His soft brown fringed layered right above his eyes, almost grazing his long eyelashes. Louis’ cheekbones and button nose caught the light from the outside corridors, reflecting it softly.

And oh. More of the memories came back. He was the boy who was hugging him shirtless in the ambulance.

“Alright,” Harry said with a chuckle and turned his head to hide his slightly blushing cheeks from the memory, “then what is that information?”

“Well. You see. Um.” He hesitated way too long for Harry’s comfort.

“No,” Harry said with a sigh. “No I don’t see.”

Louis looked away. “Look, it’s protocol for hospital staff not to give much information to the patient if they were near death, not at risk anymore, and still in hospitalization.”

Okay then. So Harry really did almost die. Okay.

“Well looky here,” Harry started slowly, as if it were the only way Louis would understand. “I know you work here, but in the end, we’re both just UW students having a chit chat about how I almost fucking died. So please elaborate on that, please. And while you’re at it, could you explain to me why we basically got to second-base before I even knew your name?” And, well. That’s not exactly how Harry thought that was going to come out of his mouth, but it still got the point across.

Louis whipped his head back to Harry and stood up quickly, “Mr. Styles,” he said with alarm rising in his voice, “I promise you it was all for professional reasons.” He set his clipboard down in his chair and put both hands up in some sort of unnecessary surrender. “I swear it was all done strictly from our thorough thought through medical decisions. I’m terribly sor--”

Harry let out a bark of laughter, cutting Louis short. It was his first non-fake laugh of the day. Not because he was trying to make light of the situation, but the fact that this attractive and intelligent boy got so flustered so easily was purely amusing.

Harry covered his mouth quickly to cover his obnoxious laugh. “Woah there Louis,” he said as he dropped his hand from his mouth. “I’m not accusing you of anything. It was more of a sarcastic remark. You’ve been nothing but professional in front of me and I wouldn’t expect anything less of you. I just want to know how I almost died and why you were hugging me with no shirt,” Harry remarked with reassurance and a grim smile forming on his lips.

Louis dropped his defensive arms as his face changed to an embarrassed half-smile. “O-of course. I knew that.” Louis came back to his chair and got settled in again. “Well, when we found you, your core temperature had dropped to 28 degrees celsius, which is about the lowest someone can go and still survive. It was a good thing we found you when we did and your body temperature was naturally raised from running at the start because if you were there on the ground any longer...um, well you know. Anyway, when we got to you, we immediately removed your soaked clothing and got you into the ambulance.Your heart beat was very faint, almost not there, honestly Claire couldn't even find your pulse. We performed CPR, which helped a little and turned up the heat in the ambulance. So yeah, I guess that’s how you almost died” he finished lightly, intently studying the edge of the clipboard that laid in his lap.

“Alright. Thanks for the answer, but even though I am a critical care patient, I am still aware that you didn’t answer my second question,” Harry said with a mocking smile and slight amusement in his voice. He wondered how much more he could fluster this boy. “You know, the half naked cuddling we did earlier? What was that all about, huh?”

Louis’ eyes widened as he whipped his head in the other direction, averting his eyes “Mr. Styles!” he said exasperatedly. “That is not appropriate. Please refrain from saying things like that.”

All Harry did in response was suppress a laugh.

“But, to answer your question. We didn’t have any warm blankets or hot water bottles on hand in the ambulance. And you had really bad hypothermia and we needed to get your core body temperature up again and skin to skin contact is an easy and efficient alternative,” he nervously rambled on. “So, you know, I um, offered, and um,” he stuttered out, obviously getting more uncomfortable as he continued. “Everyone else thought it was a good idea, and, um, it probably saved your life because it brought up your temperature by 5 degrees.”

And now Harry feels bad. He’s teasing this boy that literally saved his life. “Oh. Um. Thanks. For, um saving my life and stuff then,” was all he could utter after feeling the serious tension pressing him down deep into his hospital bed.

“Just doin my job,” Louis replied from his chair as he started bouncing his legs. “Is there anything else you want to know or need?” The tension still hanging in the atmosphere of room 12.

“What about school?” Harry responded immediately with ultimate defeat winding through his words. He can’t afford to miss school on top of the price of the medical bill, even though there might be a discount.

“You can’t continue classes for at least a week. First, you have a concussion. Second, you have a broken wrist. Third, there's a possibility of major heart problems after recovering from severe hypothermia, so we really want to keep tabs on you,” Louis said it sympathetically, but it didn’t make Harry feel any better.

“Oh,” was all he could manage. This was not good.

In an attempt to lighten the very grey mood, Louis stood up quickly and piped, “Another good thing is that you can ask for food or a nurse whenever you want and we will tend to all of your needs.” He finished with a smile. It looked tired, almost forced. The emotion wasn’t completely there. Harry didn’t know if it was because of this job or maybe a long shift or maybe Harry is being too annoying and making Louis’ life harder.

Harry didn’t know.

But Harry did need something, “Well in that case. I need to take a piss.”


	4. IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some character development. Ooohhh, aaahhh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I know that most long-term hospital rooms have bathrooms directly inside the rooms, but I already wrote the part before it occurred to me, so lets just say that this specific area in the hospital was for less critical patients that don’t normally need direct access to bathrooms, okay? Okay.

Even though Harry’s situation was bad, like really really bad, he had to make the most out of it and make light of the situation every chance he could get or he would go insane. He wasn’t, per se, the class clown in high school, but he was the funny and upbeat one in his friend group, always making sarcastic jokes and cheering his friends up if something was getting them down.

So, it was kind of muscle memory for him to make jokes in serious situations.

And it was amusing to see Louis’ reaction.

Louis had told Harry that yes, he could go to the bathroom to himself, just not to get his cast wet and that he needed to remove the EKG tab electrodes first.

After Louis disconnected Harry’s finger heart rate monitor and his IV, leaving a short thin tube attached to the needle still embedded in his skin flopping around, he said “Now you can remove the EKG tabs if you want.”

But Harry wanted to have fun. Maybe tease Louis a bit more. Maybe get him adorably flustered again by making him slightly too uncomfortable.

“Actually, Louis,” Harry started off, “can you remove the tabs? I mean, of course I would if I could, but this cast makes it a little difficult to maneuver my fingers,” he finished with an innocent smile.

“But you have your other ha-” Louis began with an annoyed look on his face, but stopped mid sentence, almost looking like he accidentally removed the intestines instead of the appendix in a surgery, and began his sentence again with a forced, uneasy smile. “Of course, I’ll be glad to help.” He took a step closer to Harry and began removing the blankets.

Louis lifted Harry’s gown up to his neck to give him access to all of the tabs. Harry tried to make eye contact with Louis and throw a suggestive smirk his way, but he was focused on his task at hand. He was probably removing the third or fourth tab from Harry’s torso when Harry had to make another slightly inappropriate remark. “Well Lou-boo,” he liked it because it rhymed, “I am not complaining, but I sure am surprised that we’ve gotten to second base for the second time in twelve hours and we haven’t even been on a date,” Harry said, faking exasperation while wiggling his eyebrows.

Louis froze, his eyes widening ever so slightly, trying to keep his shock hidden. He continued onto the next tab without saying a word. His cheeks slightly flushed in the dimly lit room.

“Of course, that may be my mistake, not asking you out on a date or anything and you know, getting into this situation in the first place. But I can change that quite easily. So what do you say, after I’m out of the hospital, do you wanna go out?” Harry was most certainly saying this just to get a reaction out of Louis, but in the back of his head he knew he would be quite alright going on a date with this cute and smart, blue eyed boy.

So when he said, “I keep my relationship with my patients strictly professional,” Harry couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. “Alright. I got the last tab off of you.” Louis walked over to the cabinets and opened one, grabbing a hospital gown and swiftly tossing it onto Harry’s chest. “You can put a new gown on, then use the restroom.” Louis stood, leaning his lower back against the edge of the counter and crossing his arms over his chest. “I guess all the blankets were a little too much after returning to a normal body temp. You got, uh, quite sweaty,” Louis said quietly, averting his eyes. “I’m going to stay in the room because there’s a risk you may pass out from standing up after,” his voice died off slightly, “you know, almost dying.”

Harry looked away, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the serious atmosphere. “Yeah, ok,” was all he could manage to respond. He sat up in his hospital bed and swung his legs over the edge, revealing his long legs and black underwear. Harry glanced at Louis with a smirk only to realize Louis was diverting his eyes and tapping his fingers quickly on his arms. Harry looked away, then made the mighty attempt to stand up, which kinda didn’t go as well as he planned. All the blood rushed from his head, making his vision go fuzzy and crossed and his balance went completely out the window. He started falling and thrust out his arm to catch himself on the counter that seemingly wasn’t there, his vision faded even more. He kinda just accepted the fact that he was going to hit the ground, maybe get another concussion, or even break his other wrist.

But, the impact never came because a pair of strong and lean arms grasped around his torso and set him down on the bed once again. “Thanks for that,” Harry said as he felt his body leaning back to the pillows nestled at the top of the bed.

“Yep, just doing my job,” Louis responded, but his voice sounded muffled and almost like it was coming from a tin can.

One last thought came through Harry’s head before he was completely out, so he decided to vocalize it. “Third time Louis. Third time of getting to second base within twelve hours and still no date,” he said with what he was hoping was a charming smile. Harry swore he heard a small laugh come from Louis’ mouth before his world completely went dark once again.

-

When he woke up, he really needed to pee. He fumbled with the remote lying beside him and pressed the nurse call button and someone’s voice chirped up through the small speaker, “Hello! What do you need?”

“I have to pee, but I don’t want to pass out,” Harry managed to garble out.

“Okay, we’ll be right with you!” The person said cheerfully and then disconnected.

Not even a minute later, Louis came into the room with a wheelchair.

“Loouuuiiiissss,” Harry said with his sleepy mind, “I have to take a piss. How long was I out?”

“Yes, I know,” Louis started, “and you were only out for around thirty minutes. But I’m thinking I can help you get your gown changed and then you can take a trip in this wheelchair to the restroom. “Are you feeling up for that? You still look quite pale.”

Harry’s mouth turned into an exaggerated frown. “Heeyyy, I’m tired and it's winter.”

“Not to mention, you're literally recovering from hypothermia. I’m making sure you’re alright, not insulting you,” Louis said snappily and paused, eyes widening. “Sorry, what I meant was it’s normal that you are a bit pale and I just want to make sure you can use the restroom safely,” he said through gritted teeth with a forced smile.

Harry looked over to Louis with a slight grin, “Yeah yeah. Can you help me into this gown now? Maybe we can get a fourth time in before the twelve hour mark, yeah?”

Louis rolled his eyes, not even trying to conceal it this time. “I need you to drink some water first, before we get you standing up again.” Louis walked over to the room sink and filled up a small dixie-cup and handed it to harry.

“Thanks,” Harry muttered and grabbed the cup bringing it to his lips and gulping it down in two sips. “Okay then,” he said as he flicked his cup at Louis, which hit him in the chest and fell to the ground. “Let’s get me into this gown.” Harry swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed for the second time that day as Louis bent down to throw the cup away.

Louis successfully got Harry into a fresh, non-sweaty gown and sat him onto the wheelchair without any passing out or, surprisingly, inappropriate jokes. As Harry was being wheeled to the restroom, he felt like he needed to break the silence. He was about to make a snarky comment on Louis having to watch him piss or not when Louis was the one to speak first.

“We contacted your parents and told them that you woke up and they can come check in on you anytime before four o’clock today. They said they’d be here in around twenty minutes from now. Just thought I’d let you know.” They reached the restroom and before Harry could reply, Louis was talking again. “You can go in by yourself, but if you’re feeling like you’re going to faint, just call out or use the nurse call button mounted on the wall next to the toilet. And just to make it easier if something does happen, leave the door unlocked. It will make everything run more smoothly,” Louis said, almost as if he had it rehearsed.

“Um yeah. Okay. Thanks,” Harry said as he slowly stood and entered the bathroom, successfully not fainting during the entire process.

-

After Harry was settled back in his room twelve hospital bed with his vitals hooked up once again, Louis reminded him that his parents would be there to check in on him in around ten minutes. He said that he would be back, along with a doctor when his parents arrived. Harry just nodded as the door was quietly shut, pushing away the hospital ambience in the hallway.

Harry felt weird.

Not like he was going to pass out weird, but mentally weird. Like, he doesn’t like discussing things seriously, and pretty soon he’s going to talk to his parents if they even have enough money to pay for the bills, which is way too serious for his liking. What if the money’s going to come from his college savings? Ugh, he couldn’t think about that anymore.

Instead, his mind wandered to Louis. Harry had really tried to get a reaction out of him. At first, he was aiming to make Louis laugh or make a joke. He’s a college kid, there’s got to be some fun in him. But instead he just maintained himself in his professional state, or got the tiniest bit flustered before returning to his task. After realizing Louis probably wouldn’t laugh, Harry decided to maybe get on his nerves, make him angry. He made way too many sexual jokes and even through trash at him, but Louis remained unfazed and patient. The most Harry got was an eye-roll and a slightly snappy remark that wasn’t even out of hand. Harry just wanted to know what made Louis tick, and he didn’t have a lot to go off of.

There was a soft knock at the door and an unknown face popped around the corner, “Hello Mr. Styles!” he said as his full body entered the room. “I’m Dr. Lee,” his eyes lit up as they adjusted to the darkened room and made contact with Harry’s. “I have quite the entourage today, we have Louis, who I’m sure you’ve already met, your mom and dad, and your, using his words, best friend!” he said enthusiastically as each person slowly entered the room one by one. Louis gave a tight lipped smile as he walked to the wall opposing Harry’s bed, resting his back against it. His parents and best friend, on the other hand, surged towards him to give him a big group hug.

“Niall!” Harry exclaimed with joy, “I didn’t know you’d be here. You didn’t hav-umnfgh.” Niall’s jacket came in contact with Harry’s mouth, garbling his words. He felt his parent’s and Niall’s comforting arms wrap around him.

Niall, in fact, was Harry’s best friend. They had grown up in Seattle together, going to the same elementary, middle, and high school. They did band and choir together, along with French Club because it looked good on college applications. Neither of them were very strong on the sports side of things, but they liked going to the Sounders soccer games and the UW Huskies football games when they were in middle and high school, accompanied by their parents most of the time. They loved going downtown and doing all the touristy things together, including going to the 5th Avenue Theatre occasionally for a musical because they both liked that sort of thing. And it may be weird that they didn’t do that sort of stuff with a boyfriend or girlfriend, but neither of them had much luck in the dating industry in high school, but they didn’t really care much. Niall and Harry were basically brothers and were fine with it.

And now they're in college together, but Niall is more sure of what he wants to do with life. He was minoring in Spanish and majoring in music and already found some friends to make a band with; he was on guitar and vocals. With his bleach blond, quiffed hair and bright, enthusiastic blue eyes, he definitely had the looks for it. He even got some gigs at a local cafe nearby. All while Harry is just lost in his English major. Harry was always interested in Niall’s work though, sometimes writing songs himself that he would never share with anyone.

He also hung out with the other bandmates as a group quite frequently too. Their names were Zayn and Liam. Zayn, who was on drums and vocals in the band, was one of those people who are just incredibly smart without even trying. He was majoring in art and double minoring in music and microbiology, and he seemed to be doing just fine. So far at least. He was pretty much working all the time, but he seemed to like it. His evenings were always free, so missing a gig wasn’t a problem. But it seemed like he was busy every other day, except maybe Saturdays.

Liam was on vocals and electric piano, which often filled in the space for any instrument that they lacked. He was a little more laid back with his classes, majoring in music and minoring in dance (he was the only one in the group that could dance), but less so with his attitude. Harry thought Liam was an amazing person, always being responsible and such, but he always seemed to be stressed about the next gig or an upcoming exam. But then again, he was basically the leader of their “group,” by scheduling the gigs and planning when they could hang out, making sure it didn’t conflict with any of their schedules, especially Zayn’s.

Then there was Harry. The honorary member of the band, who just kinda sat there during their meeting and occasionally attended rehearsals, which he didn’t mind. It was actually kind of fun, seeing how their music came together. And it gave him time to study, if he needed to, in a peaceful environment. (Most of the time at least. Occasionally there would be rushed arguments about which songs they’d play or which chord or harmony sounded better. They died out pretty quickly though.) He also attended most of their gigs to provide support and feedback if they asked for it. And not to brag or anything, but Harry picked the name for their band, One Direction. It sounded kinda dumb at first, so they were only joking about it, but then it caught on and became their official name.

When Harry’s parents and Niall pulled away, they said “I’m so glad you’re okay,” almost in sync, which resulted as a burst of laughter from everyone. Everyone except for Louis who just showed a sad looking smile when Harry glanced over. What is this kid’s problem?

“Well,” Doctor Lee started as he held the information clipboard in his hands, “you guys can get seated and we’ll discuss all the details and stuff.” They all sat down in the guest seats as Louis floated beside Dr. Lee. “Alright, so broken wrist.” He pulled an x-ray scan from the folder and passed it to Harry’s parents. “Concussion, severe hypothermia, and some minor cuts on the face.”

“I almost died!” Harry said jokingly, but not very jokingly with a grin.

“What...?” Harry’s mother’s face fell, growing a look of concern along with everyone else in the room. Everyone except for Louis, who just grimaced and looked down.

“What do you mean, sweetie?” She looked at the doctor, then at Louis, then Dr. Lee again, “What does he mean? That wasn’t mentioned when we were here earlier.”

Dr. Lee let out a forced reassuring laugh, “Well of course Mrs. Styles.”

“It’s Twist. Actually just call me Anne,” she blurted with a pained smile, tapping her fingers on the chair’s armrest anxiously.

“Yes of course, Anne,” Dr. Lee rephrased, “He was stable by the time you got here and we weren’t going to worry you about it. But now that the topic came up, if we didn’t get to him when we did, there would have been a high chance of death. Even as is, he is lucky he survived such severe hypothermia.”

“But I’m fine now! No need to worry,” Harry said with a nervous grin and a forced upbeat laugh, because he knew. He knew that he wasn’t necessarily fine, there was still that thing that could go wrong with his heart.

Anne rushed up to Harry from her chair giving him another big hug and a big kiss on his forehead. “Oh I’m so glad you’re alive and okay. And remind us to give Gemma a call once the doctors leave. She’s been worried sick,” Anne whispered into Harry’s hair as he lightly hugged back with his good arm. Before he could respond Annes body shot up and she made intense eye contact with Dr. Lee. “Where is the person that saved him? I must thank them directly, they saved my baby boy!” she choked out with tears starting to form in her eyes.

“Ugh mom, I’m literally in college,” Harry said with a not-really-annoyed huff as he rolled his eyes.

“Well actually, Anne,” Dr. Lee stepped to the side, motioning his hands toward Louis, revealing the slightly timid look on his face. “Louis, Harry’s designated daytime CNA, was working his EMT shift when they rescued him and performed CPR and...uh...body warming techniques to keep your son alive.”

“Oh thank you! Thank you thank you!” she cried as she quickly wrapped her arms around Louis’ small frame and pressed her head into his shoulder. Louis looked shocked and like he didn’t know what to do with his arms as they hung by his side a second too long. Then he lightly wrapped them around her back. And then, for a second, Harry swore it was there for a second, he saw a genuine smile pop up on Louis’ face. But then, his mother pulled away and the same tight, professional face returned. “How could we ever repay you?” Anne whispered out with her hands still on Louis’ shoulders.

“You don’t have to ma’am. I was just doing my job.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to update as frequently as possible, but with school started very soon, I'm not so sure how often I will be able to. ): Also, I feel like this is going to be a VERY long book and take forever to finish, but I'm ok with that because I a having a fun time writing it and I hope you guys are having a fun time reading it.
> 
> Thanks for reading and comment what you think! ....Or not, I don't really care, I just hope you're enjoying the story!


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